Scotland: Coast to Coast MTB trip

A friend of my mine and I are currently planning a mountain bike trip through Scotland and would be grateful for any help.

We are considering a Coast-to-Coast trip, starting from Aberdeen and ending in Ardnamurchan (inspired by Wildernessscotland and similar trips http://www.wildernessscotland.com/adventures.php?tripID=37).

We will travel light and won't need any baggage transport. However, what we do need, is a detailed map and some general advice.

Also, we were wondering if its preferable to travel from East to West or the other way round?

Any ideas, comments or suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Cheers

Christiane

saxm

30 May 15:35

Joined: 30 May 2011

Posts: 1

Bike:

That looks awesome! I need to do that!

Take a look in the book "Exploring Scottish Hill Tracks" by Ralph Storer (ISBN: 9780751503555). The author is a biker and the books gives a number of routes which criss-cross the Cairngorms and beyond, from Fort William in the west, to the eastern parts of the Cairngorms. This might give you some ideas for stitching together a coast-to-coast route.

Travelling from Aberdeen to Ardnamurchan makes for a better journey (in my opinion), as Ardnamurchan is a really nice place to end up at, but the prevailing winds are usually west to east.

Gus

03 Jun 11:09

Joined: 03 Jun 2011

Posts: 1

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Christiane,

Can I take it that you want to do as much as possible off-tarmac road? How much time do you have? I am familiar with most parts of Scotland and can give you pointers.

'Gus

fussel

04 Jun 14:06

Joined: 23 May 2011

Posts: 5

Bike:

The time frame for the trip should be about one week, achieving approx. 60km a day - depending certainly on the terrain. We want to do as much off road as possible. As regards the accommodation, we are planning to use B&B's or hotels (if no B&Bs available) in order to be able to travel light and avoid carrying a tent and a sleeping bag.

We are also considering changing our starting point from Ardnamurchan to Kyle of Lochalsh

John Bain

28 Dec 19:52

Joined: 28 Dec 2011

Posts: 2

Bike:

Hi,

Did you do the coast to coast? Which way did you go and how long did it take?

Best regards.

John.

fussel

28 Dec 20:54

Joined: 23 May 2011

Posts: 5

Bike:

Hi John,

In the end, we started in Fort William and ended in Aberdeen. It took 6 days, but could be done in less.

If you need further information, like any GPS material, please let me know.

Cheers

Christiane

John Bain

29 Dec 21:27

Joined: 28 Dec 2011

Posts: 2

Bike:

Thanks Christiane.

Well done! Looks like an interesting route but I don't think I'd be wanting to do it any quicker at my age!

I hope you enjoy many more similar trips.

All the best for 2012.

Yours

John.

fussel

30 Dec 12:59

Joined: 23 May 2011

Posts: 5

Bike:

Thank you John, I hope so too.

All the best for 2012

Christiane

Corrado

30 Jan 20:42

Joined: 04 Jan 2012

Posts: 9

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Hi Guys, couldn't stay away from this post, that's why I peeped in.
I'm planning my Bike Trip round Scottland and I was wondering if you have any good tips about accommodation. I'll be cycling load up with two rear rack bags, as I usually do on my long bike trips,that's why where sleeping is extremely interesting. Basically I'd like to know if you can find cheap places or specific places for bikers as it happens in north Italy and France.

If you have a second and you don't mind, it would be highly appreciated

Thanks

Corrado

fussel

05 Feb 12:37

Joined: 23 May 2011

Posts: 5

Bike:

Hi Corrado,

We mainly stayed in B&Bs throughout the trip, costing EUR 35 / night on average. During our planing of the trip, we did not come across any special places for bikers - may be there are - we did not really look into staying at cheaper places.

If you do a real mountain biking trip, I'd trad the rear rack bags for a small backpack ...

Cheers,

Christiane

ToZe

28 Jan 14:54

Joined: 28 Jan 2013

Posts: 1

Bike:

Hi Christiane.

Planing on doing the same (coast to coast) from Aberdeen to Forth William this year. Would you advise the opposite (mostly due to the winds)?

You mentioned you wished to do as much as off-road as possible, which is also my goal. Did you succeeded? :)
Would you care to share some GPS files of your route to
turkish dot mac @ gmail dot com to help me planning?

Thank you in advance!

ToZe

ludo90

29 May 10:24

Joined: 29 May 2015

Posts: 1

Bike:

Hi!

This trip sounds fantastic!

I am also willing to do it this year. If anyone has the GPS route, it would be really amazing :)

Also, did you do it with rear bags or is it really hard singletrails?

dutoit.ludovic at gmail com

Thank you so much!

Ludovic

gvf

21 Sep 12:56

Joined: 30 Mar 2014

Posts: 2

Bike:

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I'm planning on doing this too, anyone kind enought to share the GPX file?

gazb77

25 Sep 20:42

Joined: 25 Sep 2016

Posts: 2

Bike:

Hi, looking to do exactly the same, Fort will am to Aberdeen, would love to know your route and accommodation

Kristina

31 May 21:34

Joined: 31 May 2017

Posts: 1

Bike:

Hi Christiane,
I would also like to follow your experience, so I would appreciate if you could share .gpx file and accomodation info to ilgasmmilga at yahoo dot com. If you know any company which could rent a bike at Fort William with a drop out at Aberdeen, please let me know.